No cut for Bashir, asks Canberra

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Australia will ask the Indonesian Government not to reduce the
30-month jail sentence imposed on Muslim leader Abu Bakar Bashir
for his role in instigating the Bali bombings.

Bashir is likely to be among 53,000 prisoners to have their
sentences reduced as part of celebrations marking the 60th
anniversary of Indonesian independence.

But Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he would not like to
see a reduction in Bashir's "rather short" sentence for his role in
the October 2002 bombings, in which 202 people, including 88
Australians, died.

"Our ambassador is taking this matter up with the Indonesians,"
Mr Downer said.

He said Australia had already been assured by Indonesia that
three men sentenced to death for the October 2002 bombings and four
others jailed for life would not have their sentences reduced.

Mr Downer said that of the 33 people convicted and sentenced for
the Bali bombings, three were sentenced to death and four to life
imprisonment.

"They're the people who are most directly involved with the Bali
bombing," he said.

"We have an assurance that none of those who have been sentenced
to death, or who have life imprisonment sentences, none of those
people will have remissions applied to them."

South Australian Premier Mike Rann has already sent his own
protest to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra, expressing "shock
and revulsion" that Bashir's sentence might be reduced.

Mr Rann told Indonesian ambassador Imron Cotan that he wanted
the letter passed on to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono.

In the letter he said the Indonesian Government had promised its
citizens and the world that it would deal harshly with those
responsible for the Bali outrage, not only the bombers but those
behind the bombing.

He said most Australians were shocked at the light sentence
given to Bashir.

"To compound this with a reduction in sentence is an insult to
those who lost loved ones during the outrages that occurred in
Bali," he said.

"It would not reflect well on Indonesia's legal system or your
Government's resolve in fighting terrorism," Mr Rann said.

Former South Australian magistrate Brian Deegan, whose
21-year-old son Josh died in the blasts, backed Mr Rann's plea and
said the Government must object strongly to any plan for a
remission for Bashir.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd urged Prime
Minister John Howard to raise the issue with Indonesia as a matter
of national importance and said most Australians would ask why
Schapelle Corby got 20 years for importing marijuana while Bashir
got 30 months for instigating the murder of nearly 100
Australians.

"I think the Australian people would want to see this sentence
of at least 30 months fully carried out," Mr Rudd said.